Kidney and Urinary System

CTB Lab 9
General Kidney Features
(macroscopic structure)
 Kidney
• Retroperitoneal
Kidney (monkey):
• Encapsulated w/ Dense Irregular CT
RC renal corpuscles
• Cortex  outermost region V interlobular vein
• Cortex composed of Cx cortex
– Renal corpuscles (little circles)
– Proximal/Distal Tubules MR medullary ray
– Capillaries AV arcuate vein
– Medullary rays AA arcuate artery

Zoom to ~150% to really see the

arteries and veins 

G glomerulus
IA interlobular artery

RP renal papilla
C calyx
P renal pelvis
U ureter
Ai interlobar artery
T tubule
 Renal Corpuscle
1. Glomerulus  tuft of fenestrated capillaries
2. Mesangial cells  modified sm muscle cells, support glomerulus, maybe maintain Glomerular bsmt membrane
3. Bowman’s Capsule  double walled epithelial layer surrounding glomerulus (Visceral + Parietal)
Question 1: *Parietal Layer of Bowman’s Capsule is made up of Simple Squamous Epithelial cells
Visceral layer of Bowman’s Capsule consists of Podocytes
Q2: *Nuclei within Glomerulus belong to 3 types of cells: Capillary endothelial cells, Podocytes, Mesangial Cells
Renal Corpuscle
Schematic
 Renal Corpuscle

Renal corpuscle:
A afferent arteriole
C glomerular capillary
E endothelial cell
GBM glomerular basement
membrane
I interstitium
M mesangium
N mesangial cell nucleus
PCT proximal convoluted tubule
S squamous cell
Glomerular Filter – Schematic
Glomerulus
BC Bowman's capsule
BM basement membrane
BS Bowman's space (urinary space)
C capillary loop
E endothelial cell
F fenestrations
FS filtration slit
M mesangial cell
MM mesangial matrix
P podocyte
P1 podocyte primary process
P2 podocyte secondary foot process

Q3: **The Clear Space between the Glomerulus

and Parietal Layer of Bowman’s Capsule is called the
Urinary Space (Bowman’s Space in Wheater’s
diagrams)

**The Urinary Space contains Plasma Ultrafiltrate – it

passed from capillaries into it.

Q4: **3 Components of the Filtration barrier going

from glomerular caps to urinary space:
1) Fenestrated capillary endothelial cells (ECs)
2) Fused basal laminae of cap ECs & podocytes
3) Diaphragm-covered filtration slits between
podocyte foot processes
Ultrastructure of Podocytes & Endothelial Cells
Glomerulus
BC Bowman's capsule BM basement membrane
BS Bowman's space C capillary loop
E endothelial cell F fenestrations
FS filtration slit M mesangial cell
MM mesangial matrix P podocyte
P1 podocyte primary process
P2 podocyte secondary foot process
 Slide 27 – Kidney PAS
Note intense staining within glomerulus
It indicates the Basal Lamina that contributes to the glomerular filtration barrier.
 Back to slide 26
Afferent Arteriole  feeds glomerular caps
Efferent Arteriole  drains glomerular caps
Both enter/exit the renal corpuscle at the Vascular Pole

Urinary Pole  opposite from Vascular pole; where plasma ultrafiltrate drains from corpuscle.
Q5: **Plasma Ultrafiltrate drains from urinary space into proximal tubule.
 1- Renal corpuscle
Nephrons – functional units of the kidney,
2- Proximal tubule
composed of four things:
3- Loop of Henle
4- Distal Tubule

Proximal and distal

convoluted tubules
BB brush border
BM basement membrane
C peritubular capillaries
DCT distal convoluted tubule
PCT proximal convoluted tubul
 How to Distinguish Renal Tubes
Proximal Tubule Distal Tubule Collecting Duct

Type of High Cuboidal Low Cuboidal Cuboidal 

Epithelium In other words, Large cells In other words, shorter cells Columnar

-Open -Open
Lumen Occluded
-Wide -Scalloped edge b/c
Characteristics Jagged outline
-Smooth contour cells bulge inward
Indistinct Indistinct
Cell borders (lateral borders highly (lateral borders highly Distinct
interdigitate) interdigitate)

Nuclei in a
Few – basally located Many – centrally located Many – centrally
given plane of
(because cells are so large) (beccause cells are smaller) located
section
Cytoplasmic Eosinophilic & Granular
(b/c abundant mitochondria, Pale Pale
staining basal membrane infoldings)

-Have a brush border (microvilli) -No brush border

-More Prox tubules than Distal; -Makes lumen appear wider/open
Extra info:
so will see more of these in X
section

Q6:**Cells in the Proximal Tubule function to resorb lots:

Active Reabsorption = Na/Cl Q7: **Distal Tubule Cells only resorbe Na/Cl
Passive Reabsorption = water (follows NaCl)
Facilitated Reabsorption = Glucose / AAs / Proteins
B Bowman's space
CP mesangial cell cytoplasmic processes
MC mesangial cell
MM mesangial matrix
P1 podocyte primary process
P2 podocyte secondary foot process;
BM basement membrane
BME basement membrane of endothelium
Cap capillary
E endothelium
J junctional complex
L lysosome
M mitochondrion
Mv microvilli
P cell processes
S supporting tissue
V pinocytotic vesicle
E endothelial cell

Structure of the Tubules with

adjacent capillaries for
reabsorption
More Comparison of Proximal vs Distal Tubules
Proximal Tubule
(Microvilli and Mitochondria)
 MACULA DENSA:
Place where the Distal Tubule passes close by the Vascular Pole
The Distal Tubule’s Columnar Cells are Tightly Packed here
Function: monitors the sodium concentration and volume of ultrafiltrate in the tubule
 MACULA DENSA
Q7: ** Macula densa is part of a larger structure called the Juxtaglomerular Apparatus, which
includes specialized cells in a portion of the afferent arteriole.

Q8: ** The secretory product of the juxtaglomerular cells of the afferent arteriole is Renin.
See/Compare:
-Glomerulus
-Macula densa
-Proximal tubule
-Distal tubule
 Loop of Henle
“A U-shaped tube connecting the
proximal and distal tubules”

(Intermediate Tubule)
First section of Henle’s loop is a thick
descending limb; goes from cortex 
medulla via Medullary Rays
Collecting tubules and ducts
A thick ascending limb of loop of Henle
T thin limb of loop of Henle
CD collecting duct
CT collecting tubule
IC intercalated cell
V vasa recta

Thin loops dip down into the

medulla and go back up to
the cortex.

To identify look for squamous

cells, but they shouldn’t have
bright RBCs within – those
are capillaries.

Don’t forget that Henle’s Loop functions as a Countercurrent Multiplier.

*The nephron stops at the end of the
distal tubule.. Doesn’t include the
collecting duct.
*Don’t fret about distinguishing
collecting ducts vs collecting tubules.
Collecting tubules and ducts
BM tubular basement membrane
*But you will need to be able to
CD collecting duct distinguish collecting tubules from
IC intercalated cell distal/proximal tubules.
S supporting tissue
Collecting Ducts have:
-Larger lumens
-Distinct intercellular borders
-Scalloped edges of lumens
-Many central nuclei
-Pale cytoplasm
Note how the Thin loops have Squamous epithelium compared to the Cuboidal epithelial
cells in the thick desc/ascending loops, and cuboidal/columnar in collecting ducts.
 Kidney – Stroma
(slide 28)
As you can see the stromal component in the kidney is primarily Reticular fibers
and not as predominant as in other organs.
 Ureter in or your out… Slide 30
Ureter Q10: Transitional epithelium lines the
A adventitia lumen of the ureter.
C circular muscle layer of ureter
L longitudinal muscle layer of ureter Q11: Within the muscularis the
LP lamina propria Inner layer = Longitudinal
V blood vessel Outer layer = Circular
Therefore the section on slide 30 was
taken from the upper 2/3rds of ureter.

Q12: This arrangement is opposite of

that found in the tubular organs of the
GI tract. Hmph.
One more look at the Transitional Epithelium lining the Ureter
 Bladder The Bladder Mucosal layer is transitional epithelium –
aka, Urothelium.

Q13: Fibrous CT composed of Elastin underlies the

IL inner longitudinal muscle layer of bladder
mucosal layer. The fibers are refractile/pink staining.
OC outer circular muscle layer of bladder
OL outer longitudinal muscle layer of bladder
Q14: Because the bladder is saccular, it has 3 layers
A adventitia
of smooth muscle in its walls. (See left)
Um umbrella cell
LP lamina propria
 Q15: When fixed, the bladder in slide 31 was in the relaxed state.

Q16: Approximately 95% of bladder cancers arise from Transitional cell carcinoma.

Q17: A reliable reference listing most common causes of cancer in the US population is www.cancer.gov  The US
NIH National Cancer Institute homepage..
Most Common Causes of Cancer: Bladder, Melonoma, Breast, Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, Colon/Rectal, Pancreatic,
Endometrial, Prostate, Kidney, Skin, Leukemia, Thyroid, and Lung.
Incidence differs by factors including genetics, environmental exposures, etc.